After many, many trials, I came up with a beautifully balanced drink. I agree that my other recipes were too sweet. Once again, I'm not claiming to unlock the secrets of the Ray's Mistake... Just obtain the right flavors.

Try this one out!!! I was shocked how wonderful the final results were...

Pour all the ingredients into your shaker except the Club Soda and Coruba Rum. Add about six ounces of crushed ice. Pour the Club Soda on top of the ice and give your shaker a few shakes. Pour everything, unrestrained, into a pint glass and float the Coruba Rum.

This produces an amazing, refreshing drink!!! It's a lot lighter than my previous attempts and the flavors melt into each other.

As I have never been to the Tiki Ti but have followed in the forum the fuss and bother about this particular drunk. Last night I made this latest version (the ONLY version I've tried) with the following exceptions to the published recipe:

Passion fruit syrup - Used my own home made - the Bum's recipe using frozen pulp.
Gin: Used Beefeater London Dry - Barton's isn't found around here.
Vanilla Syrup: Used Fee's French Vanilla - it's what I have on hand
Orgeat: I used French Teisseire brand which I prefer above all others I've tried

Everything else remained as posted. NOW I understand what all the fuss and bother was about! It is a very well-blended, balanced and refreshing drink.
I've read most of the posts regarding this drink and certainly would like to know what the final word is on what was the actual "mistake".

the Registered Astronaut ("R.A.") version from page 7 of this thread, and the second Icky Tiki ("I.T.") version from page 8 of this thread (but omitting the grenadine), to wit:

Quote:

On 2012-04-24 22:34, Registered Astronaut wrote:sounds like a good tiki drink, but from further research, I have deduced that the drink is simply
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce passion syrup
1ounce simple syrup
1 generous ounce of gin
splash club soda
shake, pour, top with coruba

The white syrup that we all thought was orgeat or creme de noyaux is just plain simple syrup. Follow the simple syrup bottle with your eyes at the tiki ti and will see it can't be orgeat or Creme De Noyaux because they use it in drinks that call for neither of those things.

I encourage further research but for me at least the case is closed. I've watched too many of them get made at this point.

Quote:

On 2012-05-06 12:02, ickytiki wrote:Okay... I just made the following recipe:

my wife and I sampled these drinks. oddly, the I.T. version tasted sweeter to each of us, even though it contained less simple syrup than the R.A. version. I think the extra seltzer water in I.T.'s version somehow emphasizes the sweetness more, OR, the sweetness difference shows that there's no vanilla/almond additives to the drink. I had no Coruba on hand, and tried to approximate it by mixing Gosling's black seal with El Dorado dark; in any event, the R.A. version had notes of vanilla/almond even though no such additives were in the drink.

I used 2 ounces of gin in the R.A. recipe, and still (with each recipe) didnt pick up any "herbal" or "botanic" notes. We know that one of the "wrong" syrups in this drink is passionfruit syrup; i'm wondering if it's the other "wrong" syrup, and not the gin, that imparts the strong herbal flavors many observers have noted in the Mistake.

I agree with others that, based on the photographic evidence, there is no grenadine, creme de noyeaux, or other red liqueur in the drink.

I agree on the red as I have been to the Ti a few times since resurrecting research and there is really no red. The color comes from the the syrup they use that is a fairly dark brown in the bottle, but then lightens up to the dark yellow we see in the final drink.

My original idea using creme de noyeaux was because of the flavor profile it had which was similar to what the drink gives. But even the tiniest amount of creme de noyeaux gives the drink a definite pink to red hue, which is obviously not part of the drink.

Which points me to Finest Call Orgeat (Finest Call being their choice of grenadine and bloody mary mix), which I think they use, but not in full strength. Out of the bottle the stuff is just way too sweet and far cloudier then any syrups they have in their bottles. But the finest call brand orgeat flavor is pretty disticnt and I don't doubt it being an ingredient. I think they use the orgeat watered down at perhaps a 1:1 ratio with water for their almond flavor.

What I am still working on is how to replicate the flavor of lime, which they get from frozen lime juice, it may be sacrilege but perhaps I should try bottled lime juice, and then I am still not totally sure what is used for the Tiki-Ti's passion fruit flavor. My feeling would be it is Finest Call passion fruit puree watered down or mixed wiht something else, but I am just not sure. Research continues.

I was using an older stash of Passion Fruit Syrup... It was way, way, way more brown previously. The new stuff that I just bought is more yellow than any other color. (Banana Yellow!) And if you add the slightest, red colored flavoring or liquor you get a pink drink. So that eliminates the Grenadine or Creme de Noyaux all together.

I've also backed off the Club Soda a bit to just 2 ounces. So, here's the latest version:

Pour all the ingredients into your favorite shaker save the Club Soda and Coruba Rum. Add about six ounces of crushed ice. Shake the mistake and pour it, unrestrained, into a pint glass. Add the club soda and give it a stir and then float the Coruba Rum.

Dear ickytiki, I have never had a "real" Ray's Mistake but I find your drink very tasty and unique. One thing that I noticed though was that the last few sips of the drink gets too watered down to my taste. I made some tweaks that I think makes your drink even tastier:

Anyone still playing with Ray's Mistake? I'm still thrown off by the color as some pictures of the drink are clearly red tinted and yet some others are yellowish. One of these days I'll get to the Tiki Ti and have one from the Masters!

The drink in its finished form is certainly a dirty yellow. The color comes from a brown syrup that is used as an ingredient (And I still can't figure what is in it, but it is used in multiple drinks).

From what I can figure the ingredients include: Finest Call Orgeat (Probably cut in half with water guessing by the color in the bottle they use and the flavor profile), Finest Call Passion Fruit Puree mix (also cut in half most likely), their mix of light rum and gin, their lime juice (not fresh), possibly some simple syrup, their brown syrup, some club soda, and of course a coruba float.

Using most of those ingredients you get pretty damnable close, but the color is too pale, due to the lack of brown syrup of course. So any ideas regarding what the makeup of the brown syrup could help us make progress.